Bicycle Touring - Top Tips for a Great Holiday

These are the top things we've learnt while cycling across Europe. It would have been a great help to know some of these things before our first tour. We hope that sharing them with you will improve your cycle holiday in some way!

1. Pack earplugs - these will be a lifesaver at noisy campsites. Camping during the European summer is an amazing experience and you will meet lots of cool and interesting people. But with that comes noisy groups and parties - so have your earplugs ready to get a good night sleep.

2. Bring the right power adaptors. Camping at caravan parks in Europe requires a special adapter plug. Without this adapter, you won't be able to plug in any of your ordinary chargers or devices.

3. Be prepared for wet and cold weather. We always check the weather forecast the night before and in the morning before we ride and make sure our rain gear is easily accessible in the panniers if rain is expected.

4. Try to plan and book accomodation 2-3 days in advance. This gives you a good balance of flexibility while ensuring you always have a place to stay. However, book well in advance for public holidays.

5. Visit bars/cafes for cheap restaurant quality meals. Bars and/or cafes are good places to go in Italy and Germany for cheap food and a coffee for lunch. They are normally cheaper than restaurants and still good quality.

6. Research the best and cheapest supermarkets in each country you're visiting. Knowing where to shop for snacks and groceries will save you a fortune over a long cycle holiday. For example, Aldi and Lidl are the best places to go in Germany for cheap bakery snacks and lunch items.

7. Research and plan your cycle routes well in advance and avoid undeveloped cycle paths unless you have a mountain or touring bike. If you are planning to cycle a EuroVelo route, you can use their website to inspect the route to determine how developed it is before starting your tour.

8. Consider an electric bicycle for cycle touring. Although Beau and I are both reasonably fit, we love cycle touring with ebikes! They offer the ultimate flexibility for those willing to charge them at campsites or hotels along the way. They also offer an excellent workout because you choose how much assistance you require from the engine. At the start of our tour I was using about 50% of the bike's battery and by the end I rarely used the battery at all.

9. If you want to eat out on a budget stick to kebab shops, Chinese restaurants, and pizza. You can definitely still eat out regularly cycle touring if you're on a budget. We found the three cuisines above the best bet for finding a cheap meal.

10. Know how to repair your bike. We didn't know anything about bikes before our first tour. But accidents happen and things do break, so make sure you've at least watched a Youtube video of how to change a tyre and repair a chain before your first cycle holiday.

11. Search for hotels on Google maps. Beau found this cool search function on our first cycle trip and it has saved us a fortune. We often compare hotel prices on Google, Booking.com and other sites and have found Google shows the cheapest prices.

12. Have fun, enjoy the adventure and take a break when you need it! You'll have beautiful sunny days cycle touring and rainy cold days where it feels like everything goes wrong. This is why cycle touring is such an amazing and challenging adventure! But if you do get tired and need to take a few days to recharge, take the time out. You'll enjoy the whole experience far more if you do.